March 8, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



279 



Dr. F. N. Schmitz, Professor of Botany 

 in the University of Greifswald, died on 

 January 28, at the age of 44. 



TuE Universitj' of Wisconsin has begun 

 the publication of series of bulletins in 

 Philology and Literature, in Science, in 

 Engineering, and in Economics, Political 

 Science and History. The numbers so far 

 issued are : On the Speed of the Liberation of 

 Iodine in Mixed Solution-i uf Potassium Chlorate, 

 Potassium Iodide and Hydrochloric Acid, bj' 

 Herman Schmidt. Track, bj' L. F. Loree. 

 Some Practical Hints in Dynamo Design, by 

 Gilbert "Wilkes. The Steel Construction of 

 Buildings, by C. T. Purdy. The Evolution of 

 a Switchboard, bj' Arthur Vaughan Abbott. 

 The Geographical Distribution of the Vote of 

 the Thirteen States on the Federal Constitution, 

 17S7-S, by Orin Grant Libby. 



The J. B. Lippincott Co. announce Sug- 

 gestions to Hospital and Asylum Visitors, by Dr. 

 John S. Billings and Dr. Henry M. Hurd, 

 and A Text-book of Chemistry, intended for 

 the use of pharmaceutical and medical 

 students, by Professors Samuel P. Sadtler 

 and Henry Trimble, of the Philadelphia 

 College of Pharmacy. 



GiNX & Co. announce The Religions of 

 India, by Edward Wasliburn Hopkins. 



D. Appleton & Co. announce The Story 

 of the Stars, by G. F. Chambers, as the first 

 volume in a new series of ' Useful Stories.' 

 This series includes The Story of the Earth, 

 by H. G. Seeley ; The Story of the Primitive 

 Man, by Edward Clodd; The Story of the 

 Solar System, by G. F. Chambers. The 

 same publishei-s announce a translation of 

 Max Nordau's Entartung. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



TuE Section of Geology and Mineralogy, 

 on February 18, listened to papers of which 

 the following are abstracts: Heinrich Ries 



described the geologj- and petrography of the 

 ' Harrison Granite " of Westchester county, 

 N. Y. This forms an elongated belt, prin- 

 cipally in the town of Harrison, on Long 

 Island Sound, and is in the mid.st of the 

 mica schists, which Dr. F. J. H. Merrill re- 

 gards and has recently mapped as meta- 

 morphosed representatives of the Hudson 

 River stage. The granite contains both 

 hornblende and biotite and is really a gran- 

 ite-diorite. It is all more or less gneissic, 

 and shades from a coarsely laminated va- 

 riety with many ' Augen ' of feldspar, in the 

 central portion, to decidedly schistose vari- 

 eties at the border. Evidences of crushing 

 and manj' curious inclusions in the feldspar 

 are abundant. 



In discussion, J. F. Kemp cited the 

 many intrusive bosses of granite all along 

 the north shore of the Sound from Stony 

 Creek.Conn., tojSTiantic, R. I. The results 

 of observations as yet unpublished, on those 

 in Rhode Island, were given and a few notes 

 on their mineralogj-. 



G. F. Kunz followed with a pajior on the 

 ' INIinerals used for the Assyrian, Babylo- 

 nian and Sassanian Cylinders, Seals, etc.,' 

 which was illustrated by many specimens 

 and lantern slides. An abstract of the pa- 

 per, M'hich will l^e jH'inted in full in the 

 Transactions of the Academj^, is as follows : 



The seals that date from 4000 B. C. to 

 2500 B. C. are cjlinders, a form that is 

 thought to have been suggested by the joint 

 of a reed. Nearly all depict animals with- 

 out other ornamentation. They were made 

 of black or green serpentine, conglomerate, 

 diorite, and often of the central whorls of 

 the large conchs from the Persian Gulf. 

 From 2.500 to 600 B. C. the cylindrical shape 

 continues, but, in addition to the animals, 

 from one to six rows of cuneiform charac- 

 ters appear. Variously colored chalcedony, 

 (especially a blue variety), brick red ferru- 

 ginous quartz and red hematite are also 

 used. Up to this time the carving was 



